Thymosin .alpha..sub.1 ("T.alpha..sub.1 ") is a peptide originally derived from the Thymus gland, which has been reported as containing 28 amino acids. Amino acid sequence information on T.alpha..sub.1 is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,079,127, incorporated herein by reference.
T.alpha..sub.1 is an immune system modulator which heretofore has been reported as being useful, inter alia, in the treatment of lung cancer, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C.
Septic shock is a condition in which infection is widely disseminated in many areas of the body, the infection generally being disseminated through the blood from one tissue to another and causing extensive damage. Septic shock can occur with numerous medical conditions, including (1) peritonitis caused by the spread of infection from the uterus and fallopian tubes; (2) peritonitis resulting from rupture of the gut, sometimes caused by intestinal disease or wounds; (3) generalized infection resulting from spread of a simple infection; (4) generalized gangrenous infection resulting specifically from gas gangrene bacilli; and (5) infection spreading into the blood from the kidney or urinary tract. Septic shock is of critical concern from a clinical viewpoint because, among other reasons, this condition frequently leads to death.
Although septic shock is a somewhat common clinical phenomenon, the mechanisms involved as well as the pathological changes remain poorly understood. For example, despite the treatment of bacterial infection, many patients deteriorate further, which may be due to clinical sequelae of hypotension with low systemic vascular resistance, renal insufficiency, adult respiratory distress syndrome, severe coagulopathy and severe metabolic dysfunctions. Thus, there is an urgent need in the art for effective methods of treating septic shock.